Tough job
OPINION: The Hound reckons school teachers like nothing better than to complain constantly about how tough things are for them and that their generous holidays are all spent ‘marking school work and preparing for next term ahead’.
WEST OTAGO livestock farmer Nelson Hancox is one of five New Zealanders selected to join the Rabobank Global Farmers Master Class in Australia next week. The week-long program will see 40 farmers from across the globe gather to share ideas and information on the future of farming and participate in the educational program.
Hancox says he is particularly keen to explore the challenge of increasing returns going back to farmers, which he believes is one of the biggest issues facing the sheep and beef sector in New Zealand.
"I'm very interested in learning how the sheep and beef sectors in other parts of the world are managing the margins that are being received by processors, marketers and retailers, and how we can try to see gains in the value that is going back to farmers in our sector," he says.
"It will be inspiring to be networking with the other international participants and finding out what we can learn from how other industries are doing things around the world."
Hancox says, that along with reduced farmer margins, constraint on production was another big challenge facing sheep and beef farmers in New Zealand.
"Because of changing land use in agriculture and the move to dairying, we've seen sheep and beef pushed into the higher, colder country where pasture growth is limited and this means it is harder to supply the northern hemisphere for 52 weeks of the year," he says.
New Zealand is the world's largest exporter of lamb and farmed venison, and the fifth largest exporter of beef. With only three to four per cent of New Zealand agricultural production going to the domestic market, Hancox says the country's producers have to be firmly focused on how best to supply their export markets.
"New Zealand really needs to develop ways to produce so that we can hopefully align with the northern hemisphere requirements and be a stable and reliable supplier," he says.
The week-long program is to be held in Victoria and will cover key topics in the context of global agriculture, including social enabling, sustainability, succession, supply chain, science, social media and silicon farming (big data).
OPINION: The recent Federated Farmers / Rabobank 2024 Farming Salaries Report revealed strong growth in farm salaries over the past two years.
The low unemployment environment is one of the key factors driving on-farm salaries higher over the past 24 months, says Rabobank general manager for country banking Bruce Weir.
Fonterra has appointed a new chief financial officer, seven months after its last CFO’s shock resignation.
A seminar on rural dispute resolution has been organised at Lincoln University, Christchurch this month.
The legacy of Dr Peter Snow continues to inspire as the recipients of the 2023 and 2024 Peter Snow Memorial Awards were announced at the recent National Rural Health Conference.
One of Fonterra’s global customers, Mars is launching an ambitious sustainable dairy plan to work with dairy farmers and cut emissions by 50%.
OPINION: This old mutt well remembers the wailing, whining and gnashing of teeth by former West Coast MP and Labour…
OPINION: Your canine crusader gets a little fed up with the some in media, union hacks, opposition politicians and hard-core…